Katrina Victims Might Repay Support

On March 29, 2008 The Boston Globe ran a story about victims of Hurricane Katrina being asked to return payments they were given by ICF International of Virginia. ICF is a private company that was hired by the federal government to run its Road Home project to help victims of Hurricane Katrina find housing and get back on their feet. Now, through no fault of their own, the housing stability of ordinary families will be jeopardized again.

Apparently, ICF International overpayed many recipients of funds, and after an investigation into why former Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco gave ICF an additional $156 million in her last days in office the company decided to try to recover its errors. It is estimated that between 1,000 and 5,000 families will face collection efforts, with the average overpayment being $35,000. Obviously the mismanagement is startling in an of itself, when considering this was the worst natural disaster to affect our nation. What I find most disturbing, however, is the realization that many of these grants were made months ago. Families have spent the government grants along with much of their own savings (if they had any to begin with) to rebuild their lives. Where does this contractor think people will get $35,000 or more? We're likely talking about forcing people to sell their homes - not what The Road Home project was intended to do, I'm sure.

Meanwhile, the article adds that many eligible households have not received the grants they could. The expectation we should have of our government and any contractors that represent our government is that they will utilize our tax dollars responsibly. Mismanaging programs to the point where some people end up with nothing, and those that do receive help end up unwittingly having to pay it back is unacceptable. In their attempt to reconcile their mistake, I believe that ICF is doing more harm.

Obviously the recovery effort in the Gulf Coast is ongoing and extremely complicated. I don't have all the answers, but what I do know is that the focus of any effort should be to stabilize families and encourage wealth-building.

What do you think about the recovery effort so far? What more could we all be doing to help?